History VideoGame / CommandAndConquerRedAlert2

* DeviousDolphins: The Allies use specially trained attack dolphins carrying a WaveMotionGun to counter Soviet mind-controlled GiantSquid. They're friendly towards the player controlling them, devious towards anyone else.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: "Deja Vu", the second Soviet mission in ''Yuri's Revenge'', is about trying to destroy Einstein's Lab and the still-in-development Chronosphere. However, and unlike "Mirage" from the vanilla Allied campaign (the mission it mirrors), the Chronosphere is not only fully operational, but if you get an Allied Construction Yard, you can build your own fully operational Chronosphere.

* FantasyLandmarkEquivalent: The game fictionalises the names of some real life monuments and landmarks. This was almost certainly done in response to the 9/11 attacks which took place shortly before the game was released.
** The Paris levels get hit with this trope hard. The Louvre Museum is rendered simply as "Generic World Famous Museum" while the nearby Eiffel Tower is rendered as the "Paris Tower" with three pillars and a round base instead of the four pillars and a rectangular as it exists in our world. This actually creates a mild ContinuitySnarl with VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert, as a cutscene there displayed the real-life Eiffel Tower. Beta screenshots show the tower was supposed to look much closer to the real-life version before being altered.
** Other real life monuments mostly avert this, but their presence is heavily downplayed, presumably to avoid a ButThouMust case of MonumentalDamage in light of the aforementioned 9/11 attacks. The Statue of Liberty, Washington Monument, the Smithsonian, the British Houses of Parliament, Golden Gate Bridge and others all appear but are not mission critical unlike the Paris Tower. The Twin Towers do appear in a Soviet mission and do have some mission relevance, but their destruction is optional and they lack any identifying label in-game, as they are simply marked as "Building".

* TemptingFate: Being an expert of his psychic craft, Yuri will also build his own superweapon if you '''ever''' build one yourself in a mission against him, be it in the semi-final [=RA2=] Soviet mission or the final [=RA2YR=] mission, sometimes in a '''MUCH''' more advantageous variation than yours, '''especially''' during the final [=RA2YR=] Soviet mission in that, if you dare to build either of the two [=SWs=], be it the support SW "Iron Curtain" or offensive SW Nuclear Missile, he responds in kind not just with his '''two''' mind-controlled Soviet and Allied forces doing the same with their own respective [=SWs=] along with his own, '''tripling''' the amount of [=SWs=] you now have to deal with after building either SW, but also audibly comments on your built support/offensive [=SWs=] and says the following harrowing words...
-->'''Yuri:''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyYV0s_tZ2k#t=10m47s Good thought, Commander.]] I think my puppets should follow your example and build their own superweapons. (chuckles) (cue Yuri having his mind-controlled Allied and Soviet forces immediately constructing '''three''' offensive [=SWs=] that then threaten your base after building either of your [=SWs=])

-->'''Yuri:''' Good thought, Commander. I think my puppets should follow your example and build their own superweapons. (chuckles) (cue Yuri having his mind-controlled Allied and Soviet forces immediately constructing '''three''' offensive [=SWs=] that then threaten your base after building either of your [=SWs=])

* TemptingFate: Being an expert of his psychic craft, Yuri will also build his own superweapon if you '''ever''' build one yourself in a mission against him, be it in the semi-final [=RA2=] Soviet mission or the final [=RA2YR=] mission, sometimes in a '''MUCH''' more advantageous variation than yours, '''especially''' during the final [=RA2YR=] Soviet mission in that, if you dare to build either of the two SWs, be it the support [=SW=] "Iron Curtain" or offensive [=SW=] Nuclear Missile, he responds in kind not just with his '''two''' mind-controlled Soviet and Allied forces doing the same with their own respective [=SWs=], '''doubling''' the amount of [=SWs=] you now have to deal with after building either [=SW=], but also audibly comments on your built support/offensive [=SWs=] and says the following harrowing words...
-->'''Yuri:''' Good thought, Commander. I think my puppets should follow your example and build their own superweapons. (chuckles) (cue Yuri having his mind-controlled Allied and Soviet forces immediately constructing '''two''' offensive SWs that then threaten you base after building either of your [=SWs=})

-->'''Yuri:''' Good thought. I think I should have my own allies build their own superweapons. (cue Yuri having his mind-controlled Allied and Soviet forces immediately constructing '''two''' offensive SWs that then threaten you base after building either of your [=SWs=})

* TemptingFate: Being an expert of his psychic craft, Yuri will also build his own superweapon, sometimes in a '''MUCH''' more advantageous variation than yours, '''especially''' during the final [=RA2YR=] Soviet mission in that, if you dare to build either of the two SWs, be it the support [=SW=] "Iron Curtain" or offensive [=SW=] Nuclear Missile, he responds in kind not just with his '''two''' mind-controlled Soviet and Allied forces doing the same with their own respective [=SWs=], '''doubling''' the amount of [=SWs=] you now have to deal with after building either [=SW=], but also audibly comments on your built support/offensive [=SWs=] and says the following harrowing words...

* AlternateContinuity: While ''Red Alert 1'' was originally meant to lead into ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianDawn'', ''Red Alert 2'' and its follow-ups take place in a different timeline (or rather timeline'''s'''), diverging at an unknown point after the previous game (this divergence was to be explained in the initial version of ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars'', but it was scrapped). As it stands, ''Red Alert 2'' and ''3'' essentially function as standalone stories with virtually all references to the Tiberium saga gone.

* WashingtonDCInvasion: The first Soviet mission has you destroying the Pentagon. This contradicts the Allied (canon) side, where you actually have to defend and attack with a lot more than just basic grunts. Naturally, [=RA2=] was when the series started to get campy and Troperiffic, so the triteness of the premise can be excused. The eighth Soviet mission involves attacking General Vladimir's base near and capturing the White House.

-->-- '''Soviet tanks.'''

** {{Hammerspace}}: [=GI=]s somehow carry a machine pistol, a [[GunsOfFiction/MachineGuns M60 machine gun]] and a couple dozens of sandbags on their own persons and can remain mobile (and reasonably fast). Taken even further by the Guardian [=GI=]s in ''Yuri's Revenge'', who carry a M60 machine gun, a [[GunsOfFiction/RocketsMissilesAndGrenadeLaunchers Javelin missile launcher]] and ''steel barricades'' instead of sandbags, though as a nod to realism they are slower.

*** In fact large potions of the campaign can be beat no base building on easy. While some levels do requires some, speedruns are mostly just rushing the objective or enemy base with starting units and whatever reinforcments can be quickly built along the way.
** The fifth Allies mission is a stealth mission that tasks the player with sabotaging two Soviet Nuclear Missile Silos using only Tanya and a couple of Spies. There is a pile of barrels along the southeast wall of the first Soviet base that leads to a squad of friendly troops including Engineers. With the Engineers its possible to capture the first Silo instead of destroying it and using its missile to destroy the other silo. The Nuke Attack will charge up even without base power.

*** It's also relatively simple to permanently de-power the Soviet bases with spies. By taking out one of the outlying bases, capturing it's barracks (or another building so you can build your own nearby) and leaving a power plant alive, you can constantly send spies in to deny the soviets power for the rest of the mission, including disabling their super weapons. Plus if you also leave an Ore Refinery alive, excess spies can steal loads of cash. For whatever reason the Soviets always have ample money for you to steal no matter how much you do this, giving you an essentially unlimited cash reserve to beat the mission with no time pressure from the Soviet Nukes and Iron Curtain.

** The Allied and the Soviets team up against Yuri in the expansion, although it's not as benevolent as the temporary alliance between GDI and Nod in ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSun Tiberian Sun]]''[='=]s expansion - one side still defeats the other to win the war, just faster so they have more time to focus on Yuri, and not as hard so that the loser is in the proper state to do anything military-related. While the cooperation is official (through a treaty signed in London) in the Allied Campaign, it is PlayedWith in the Soviet Campaign - the Allies ''think'' they are working together with the Soviets to defeat Yuri, the Soviets don't think so, and are merely using the Allies whenever needed.

* GuiltBasedGaming: After winning a misison in the campaign mode, you are treated to a debriefing screen that shows whether or not you beat the par time and offers a little in-game commentary. If you ''don't'' beat the par time, you'll get some rather demoralizing commentary because you took too long to accomplish your objective (i.e. heavy military casualties, heavy civilain losses, enemy discovers classified info, etc.).

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: The Allied mission "Free Gateway" features Soviet Desolators [[ImMelting melting American civilians]] alive with radiation. It's also possible to kill American civilians in the Soviet campaign. The Allies aren't entirely above destroying Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow if you so choose.

* AirborneArtillery: [[ZiZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] with Soviet Siege Chopper in the ''Yuri's Revenge'' expansion. It is a Dual Mode Unit - while airborne, its assault cannon's range is rather short. To deploy its artillery piece, it needs to land and thus become vulnearable to all weaponry.

* DifficultButAwesome: The Allied Spy. It takes quite a bit of micromanagement and supervision on your part to get them to safely infiltrate an enemy building.[[note]]Attack Dogs and psychic units are the biggest threats to the Spy.[[/note]] However, when an Allied Spy ''does'' infiltrate a building, he can provide a myriad of benefits to you. The Spy can steal credits from a Refinery, reset a superweapon's timer, reset the shroud, or temporarily disable the enemy's entire power grid. The biggest benefits, however, come from infiltrating a barracks or war factory which allow you to train veteran units from the get-go. Also, infiltrating an enemy's battle lab grants you access to special, powerful units (like the notoriously dangerous Chrono Commandos).

* HealingFactor: Apocalypse Tanks and Kirov Zeppelins slowly replenish their health bar up to green levels ,i.e. around 66%. Elite units and those affected by a tech hospital or machine shops regain full health.

** The moon landing module ''Eagle'' and the US flag planted by the Apollo 11 mission are a destructible structure right at the beginning of the Moon mission.

* StrategicAssetCaptureMechanic: Hospitals, Garages (HealingFactor to infantry and tanks, respectively), civilian power plants (extra base power), and airports (which grant a Paratrooper Drop Support Power similar to America's Subfaction Bonus). Some maps have abandoned structures from other factions, such as Sattelite Uplinks or Psychic Radars.

* Weaponized Teleportation: One of the uses of the Allied Chronosphere is to instantly kill groups of enemy units by teleporting land units into water, or water units onto land.

** In the expansion, the mission Power Play revolves around the player trying to stop Yuri from nuking the city every ten minutes. It doesn't help that Yuri tends to use his first nuke to destroy the War Factory and you don't have a Construction Yard in this mission. [[spoiler:Thankfully there is another Allied War Factory elsewhere on the map available for takeover with an Engineer.]]

* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: Poked at with the multiplayer taunts for the French subfaction ("Surrender! No, not '''I'' surrender', ''you'' surrender!") but averted in the in-game story, in which it is the representative of France who reminds the US that YouAreNotAlone and is ready to take command of Tanya and the forces accompanying her. The only reason France (and the UK and Germany) don't immediately rush to help the USA is because they have [[NukeEm Soviet nukes]] in Poland aimed at them and are understandably lukewarm about rushing in to help under these conditions.

** ''Red Alert 2'' is the first game in the ''Command & Conquer'' franchise where you actually receive an alert when a player (or A.I.) builds a superweapon. The game even reveals the shroud above the superweapon, gives you a countdown timer, and even gives you a voice alert when the superweapon is built ("Warning: [superweapon name] detected"). And also, using a superweapon will show you a semi-transparent visual circle representing the "blast radius" or area of effect so you can aim the superweapon properly.

** ''Red Alert 2'' is the first game in the ''Command & Conquer'' franchise where you actually recieve an alert when a player (or A.I.) builds a superweapon. The game even reveals the shroud above the superweapon, gives you a countdown timer, and even gives you a voice alert when the superweapon is built ("Warning: [superweapon name] detected").

*** It's also relatively simple to permanently depower the Soviet bases with spies. By taking out one of the outlying bases, capturing it's barracks (or another building so you can build your own nearby) and leaving a power plant alive, you can constantly send spies in to deny the soviets power for the rest of the mission, including disabling their superweapons. Plus if you also leave an Ore Refinery alive, excess spies can steal loads of cash. For whatever reason the Soviets always have ample money for you to steal giving you an essentially unlimted cash reserve to beat the mssion with no time pressure from the Soviet Nukes and Iron Curtain.

* CripplingOverspecialisation: Go beyond the workhorses of each faction and most of their units fall into this. For example:
** The Navy SEAL massacres infantry and structures (though they have to get right up to the latter, so base defenses and garrisoned buildings are a no-go without something with better armor to distract them), but barely scratches vehicles. In the expansion, at least, Tanya loses the weakness to vehicles (she can slap C4 onto weak points to destroy them, and as a "hero" unit they can't just [[CarFu run her over]]) but remains at the mercy of base defenses or garrisoned structures, while Boris can take care of those easily (he uses a laser designator to call in airstrikes from beyond their range) but fares only slightly better against tanks (until fully-promoted he barely scratches them, and anti-infantry ones shred him).
** The German Tank Destroyer does ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, with a unique attack type that does very heavy damage to tanks, but hardly does a scratch on buildings and infantry (although it can still run over them). Even against tanks, it's vulnerable to flanking thanks to its [[FixedForwardFacingWeapon fixed turret.]]
** In the expansion, Yuri's Magnetrons excel against structures, and play a supporting role against vehicles with a kind of tractor beam, but do not harm infantry at all and can't actually harm vehicles directly unless it's near a shoreline (where it can drop land vehicles into the water and boats onto land for an instant kill).
** Prism and Mirage tanks are utterly lethal against structures and units, respectively, but have rather sad performance against the opposite if they aren't [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking promoted.]]
** Yuri's faction in general is ''full'' of overspecialization. Gatling Tank shreds infantry and air units, but cannot stand up to armor. Lasher Tanks can stand up to armor, but can do little against infantry. Magnetrons act as siege weapons, but can not actually damage units directly. Masterminds mind control infantry and ground vehicles, but are helpless against air units and robots. Using the right unit combination is a necessity as Yuri.
** Allied Robot Tanks are immune to mind control and can hover over water, but they are otherwise just more expensive Grizzly Tanks that can't be promoted and require a separate structure for building ''and'' operation - a building that, if out of power or destroyed, powers down all Robot Tanks you own until you can get power back up or replace it.
** The Allied Aegis Cruiser will [[AntiAir utterly destroy air units]] with a rapid salvo of missiles, but it can't harm anything other than air units.